Attendants engaged in lively conversation at their respective tables while presenters continued to make speeches. UCImpact Student Director Curtis Brown received wild applause as he made his way to the stage.

“The one thing that unites us in this room is our unification of excellence and education,” he said.

The first award presented was given to fourth-year public health major, Russian, conflict resolution, political science, educational studies, and civic and community engagement minors Michael Quang Nguyen for outstanding undergraduate student. Nguyen helped generate $250,000 for the funding of the Santa Ana Library where he is the youngest City Commissioner on the Library Board of Trustees. After humbly tiptoeing on stage and getting a few photos snapped of him, Nguyen slinked back to his table at the edge of the room.

Next, fifth-year sociology doctoral candidate Daisy Reyes received the award for outstanding graduate student. Reyes’ work primarily focuses on Latino student organizations in California colleges and transitions into higher education. She has worked with low-income students in organizations such as Project Upward Bound. At UCI, Reyes’ outstanding work gained her the UC/ACCORD dissertation fellowship as well as support from the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Center for Research on Latinos in Global Society.

Outstanding student athlete was given to criminology major Tanya Taylor. When Taylor joined the UCI women’s soccer team, they had scored six goals in the entire season. By the time Taylor became captain in her senior season, the team scored 49. Not only has Taylor shown exemplary sportsmanship, she has also been named Big West Scholar-Athlete and received Dean’s Honors for three years. Teetering on stage in high heels, Taylor accepted her award with true grace.

The award for Extradordinarius was given to Brian Skyrms, Ph.D. As a world-renowned philosopher and Distinguished Professor of logic and philosophy of science, Skyrms has won the 1999 Lakatos Award, and the ’05-’06 Paul H. Silverman Award Since Skyrms was out of town, his department chair Jeff Barrett accepted his award for him.

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